


What a Waste (to be so alone)

by zixinyu



Category: PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: Also very cheesy, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Not Beta Read, Out of Character, art included inside!, cheery picking plot points, contains minor char death and usual gig that comes with hanahaki, imo at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-08 05:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21230642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zixinyu/pseuds/zixinyu
Summary: Lightyears away from earth, Uno finds flowers amidst his virtual world, seemingly corrupting bits of his software. All standing for the memories he has with Donald before he left him.Or, not even AIs are an exception from the curse of the Hanahaki.





	What a Waste (to be so alone)

**Author's Note:**

> I have absolutely no idea how Hanahaki works for Uno, but who cares for the laws of the universe when you can make your own. I apologize if there are any mistakes in the work, please do kindly point them out to me and I'll try to patch them right up!
> 
> For the uninitiated, 'Hanahaki' is a fictional disease that comes from unrequited love, where the victim coughs up flowers until they either die, or have their feelings be reciprocated. The victim can opt to have the flowers surgically removed, but doing so also removes the feelings or in some cases, memories attached to those flowers.
> 
> Thank you for the Crew Discord on the input of the flower and the plot!

It starts with a petal. 

He knows each and every corner of his programming.

Back in the Ducklair Tower, he knows where his tenants are as they go about their daily lives across his floors. He catalogs who passes through the tower's doors day and night. It is a large building, but Uno sees it all. And when Donald had barged into the secret floor and Uno had decided to help him with his Duck Avenger duties, he had expanded his scans to cover the whole city; utilizing the cameras and police networks. What happened with Duo may have taken him by surprise but still, Uno stands by his point. Now, when he is reactivated in a spaceship with his master, he has an even smaller domain to work with but he's no less meticulous.

Nothing goes on in Uno's programming that he is unaware of.

Which is why it's so surprising when he feels it. A soft touch of something unfamiliar, yet familiar at the same time. A tickling sensation somewhere inside him, an itch that suddenly appears, soft and barely noticeable, but there all the same.

"I sense something foreign, Master Ducklair."

Everett turns from the console he had been controlling with a worried look on his face. The last few days have not been kind to them both, what with Corona’s Imperial Army constantly being on their backs. His master has been neglecting food and rest in favour of steering them to safety up until now. The lack of nutrition and sleep has affected him greatly, leaving him in constantly in the state of exhaustion.

"Is it an intruder Uno?” Everett rubs his head, “I thought we had lost them during the last hyperspace jump we did."

"No, not on the ship. More specifically in my systems."

Everett looks no less worried, "Do a preliminary scan of yourself Uno, we need to see if it's dangerous to you or not. Perhaps you've gotten it in the last fight we had. We can't have your systems malfunctioning now; the situation in this solar system is far too dire to have you out of commission."

"Right away Master Ducklair. Systems scan starting now."

His orb goes dark as he slips away.

He searches high and low, starting from the outer regions of his sub-routes and working his way down deeper into the center of his code. It takes him a bit of time, but soon he finds...

A digital petal?

A single wide Dahlia petal. Code named; ‘D_Flower.hnhk’.

Why did his programming produce this?

Uno doesn't hold any particular flower to his fancy. So, there’s no reason for him to want one, much less one in a virtual form inside him. He must have gotten it from the Coronian army- something that may have gotten through his firewalls. Except that they wouldn’t have used a flower from Earth; they are a prideful race who play on fear, with their own set of unique blossoms. There's not much point in them trying to prove how terrifying their force is with a mere petal, much less one from Earth.

Perhaps Master Ducklair will know what to make of it.

* * *

He pops back into his orb in the control center of the spaceship, and sees his master manually checking through cameras for any other life forms on their ship. He turns to Uno when he notices the green glow of his visual interface fully light up.

"Welcome back Uno. Did you find anything?"

“Thank you, Master Ducklair. I found this in my systems, but I have no idea how it got there.”

He brings the object to his orb, showcasing to the other duck. Everett scrutinizes it, “Is that… a petal?” “Yes,” Uno nods, “Specifically from a Dahlia flower. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be harmful to me or my systems, but I know for certain that I did not conjure this up by my own will.” “Is it a virus perhaps?” Everett raises his hands and gestures at Uno to move the object from his orb and onto the main display console. Uno closes the cameras and places the petal on full display.

“If it was, my firewalls would have stopped it at its tracks.”

“Some corruption may still get through it,” Everett muses, “I know I built you to be impenetrable, but with such a harmless appearance, it may have just slipped under the radar. Is it connected to any of your subroutines?” Uno shakes his head, “I haven’t checked yet, my apologies Master Ducklair. I’ll get right on it.”

Not even a beat later, Uno reports, “It seems to be, but I can’t pin-place where it is connected to. My scans are not bringing anything up.”

“That does sound worrisome, but I’m more afraid if it’s a ticking time bomb biding its time. It’s better to be rid of it than to be sorry,” Everett concludes, "And should there be consequences to deleting it... I’ll keep an eye out for any behavioral changes from you, to see if there's any side effect.”

“Am I really that predictable, Master Ducklair?”

“No,” Everett smiles at him, “But, you do have a rather set habit and schedule. Scans in the morning, battling battalions in the afternoon, more scans in the evening and ah, procuring the PK tube from dusk till dawn.” “I thought you weren’t aware of those,” Uno scrunches up his beak. Everett grins at him, amusement visible on his face in turn.

It’s a bit embarrassing, but Uno loves going through it. The PK Tube, as he calls it, is file containing the recordings he has of DA and his adventures, along with the many other memories he has of Donald. It brings him comfort in the times when he’s the most unsure, worried, or even just missing Donald. It’s easy to get lost in the many videos, letting the hours pass him by. It was a time he treasures dearly. There were are many choices he’s made that he’s proud of, and many more he’s unsure of. Whenever he feels that doubt creeping in, Donald would usually not be far behind in comforting him or reassuring him, despite being completely oblivious to what he’s doing to Uno. It is, one of the many reasons why Uno values him.

He wonders what Donald is doing right now. Uno hasn’t seen him since-

“Uno! The petal! It’s reacting!”

Uno blinks. Sure enough, the petal has started to glow softly.

“Is the hidden code behind it being activated? But, what triggered it? Quickly Uno! Delete it before it completes whatever programming it has!”

“Right away, Master!”

_‘Delete file: D_Petal.hnhk?’_

_‘Yes.’_

_ **Pain.** _

As soon as Uno terminates the petal, he feels a sharp spasm of agony rip inside him, suddenly fizzling out his display and all he sees is _dark_. AIs like him are not built to hold any sensory experience inside of their systems, much less it be the feeling of pain. Uno has never felt it in his all his years of operation, but what else can he call that sharp uncomfortable feeling that makes him instantly recoil away in fear?

“Uno? Uno! Can you hear me?! The ship, Uno! _Uno_!”

Where are his sub-routes? Where are his visuals? He can’t see anything.

All his codes are in haywire and he _**can’t**_-

He hears Everett rapidly typing on the main console keyboard, and within a few minutes, his visuals flash back online.

He sees Everett move from the keyboard and onto the main helm, pulling on the steering mechanism to desperately drive the tilted ship back into stability.

_The ship!_

He snaps- pushing his systems to return to their optimal performance as fast as he can force them to. Without them, the ship is basically an asteroid at the mercy of the forces of space. It's is severely off balanced but the ship has not been dragged out of the orbit just yet- Uno can still fix this. He forcefully grabs hold of the spaceship's navigation system commands from his master, and steers it back into position.

The lights flicker on and off as the rest of the ship reconfigures itself and recovers. Everett is sprawled on the floor, exhausted but seemingly unharmed. The loose stray objects on the nearby table and sofa are all scattered on the ground. No doubt the same goes for the rest of the rooms on the ship. Uno is already sending out mechanical hands to retrieve and tidy up the mess in the interior, but aside from that, the exterior of the ship and the engine remains intact.

“Well,” Everett says as he gets up, “I suppose now we know what happens when we try to terminate it.”

“I ask for your forgiveness, Master Ducklair! I wasn’t aware the consequences would be so dire. Are you all right? The ship is back in position and we’re fortunate to not have suffered any damages.”

“I’m all right Uno,” Everett slumps onto his chair, “It will take more than a sinking ship to put me down. What about you? What caused the system failure?” “I… I’m not sure Master Ducklair,” Uno looks away, “When I deleted the file, I felt a sharp pain within me. It must’ve shocked me so much that it triggered a shutdown sequence. All my systems are back online, and the petal is gone.” “I don’t remember programming you to feel pain.” Everett frowns, “I must apologize for asking this, but are you certain that it was pain that you felt?”

“It was an extremely sharp uncomfortable and unpleasant sensation inside me, but I don’t know where specifically. I just felt hurt.”

Truth to be told, Uno would rather choose to never know. He’s not sure if it will trigger it to come back, but he prefers to not test it out.

“As long as the petal is gone I suppose,” Everett sighs, “Thank you Uno, you may retire for the night, and as will I. I think that’s quite enough excitement for one night. Bring up the concealment shield around the ship and leave it on autopilot. We’ll determine the cause and effect after we both get some rest.”

“Are you sure you don’t have anything else for me to do Master Ducklair? I don’t require sleep as much as a biological would.”

“You can do what you always do when I sleep Uno, I’m sure the PK Tube will hold much fascination for you.” Everett smiles, “Let it bring you comfort for the time, especially after this incident.”

Uno watches his master leave quietly with a confused expression on his face.

PK Tube? What is his Master talking about?

Uno has never heard of such a thing.

And he knows each and every corner of his programming.

* * *

A few hours later, the doors of the main console room slam open, startling Uno out of his sleep mode.

Everett bursts in, looking no more rested than he was a few hours ago. In fact, he looks worse. His hair is loosely tied in a bun, evident that he had tied it up in a rush and he was still wearing the same clothing he had when Uno had last saw him. His eyes are bloodshot and his eye bags have sunk further lower. Nevertheless, his face is bright with revelations as if he’d gone through a successful and fruitful all-nighter. Which, in hindsight, is what he probably did. Uno has never known his master to leave well enough alone.

“Master Ducklair! I thought you went to rest?”

“Nonsense Uno! I only said it because you looked shaken and I wanted to give you some time off. Did you go through the PK Tube again?”

“Master Ducklair…. About that PK Tube-“

“Oh, I don’t mind you going through it,” Everett waves his hands, “We all have our source of comforts, and while I don’t understand why yours comes from rewatching old tapes, I certainly won’t shame you for it. Now please, look at this scanner I’ve made for you Uno! This should be much more powerful than the one I’ve built in your systems. Connect yourself in and let’s see if it can update yours.”

He shoves a round cylindrical device in front of his orb and Uno blinks. It looks like it had been constructed from the spare parts of the last Coronian ship they’ve salvaged, along with some they’ve had lying about in their own ship. It’s silver and compact, and while Uno has his reservations about using compartments of other enemy ship, he trusts Everett. He connects himself into the scanner and waits for the update to register itself into his systems. For a moment, there is only the whirring of the ship echoing throughout the console room.

Two quick beeps later, Uno comes back to himself.

“Scanner update complete Master Ducklair, but how will it help me find out about the petal? I’ve already terminated it from my systems.”

“We’ll wait, Uno. If such a small line of code in a form of a petal can affect you in such a way, I want to be prepared if it ever happens again. We can't have our top AI susceptible to any other attacks.” Everett reaches out and pats his orb once.

Uno beams back at him, “Would you like something to eat Master Ducklair? Coffee perhaps?”

“Thank you Uno,” Everett says. Uno pulls up a chair for him to sit on and clears the nearby table of anything that's unnecessary. He checks if the ship is still in the orbit of the planet that’s a few asteroids away from Corona and that there are no enemy ships within fighting distance. So far, nothing dangerous should be on their path. From this intel, he deems it safe enough for a quick reprieve, before shifting his focus back to his creator. “What will it be today Master Ducklair?”

“Just something simple Uno; some toast and eggs, with some coffee please.”

The nearby table pops open a moment later with a tray of food, and Everett nods approvingly. He grabs the toast, and starts slathering it with some jam. “Uno, what was it that you wanted ask?”

“Oh! The PK Tube Master Ducklair, I wanted to ask you what it was.”

Everett blinks at him, his mouth half open over a slice of bread. “Did you forget Uno? It’s a compilation that you constructed yourself. The one you’ve been using ever since I’ve turned you back online. It’s the one that I see you going through each night.”

Uno shakes his head hesitantly, “But Master Ducklair, I have no recollection of such program! And I know my systems inside out!”

“That… that’s impossible Uno, we were just talking about last night!”

“I didn’t know what the PK Tube was last night either, Master Ducklair.” Uno interjects, “When you had bid me goodnight I had wanted to ask you about it, but I thought it best if I let you rest instead. If I have forgotten about it then it can’t have been that important but…”

“But, you don’t just _forget_ anything,” Everett finishes, “You were not built for such mistakes.”

“Yes.” Uno quietly says. The room goes quiet as Uno fidgets in his orb. What was he forgetting? What if-

“What if this is what the petal was affecting? My memories?”

“We should scan your systems now,” Everett says to him, “Uno, please activate your scanner and look for traces of tampering within your systems. While you’re at it, go straight into your database and find the source code to initiate PK Tube, just to check if it’s still there.” “Right away Master Ducklair,” Uno says, and he lets his systems run, “Please standby as I initiate the process.”

Everett waves him off, his left hand already reaching for his coffee.

Uno’s orb goes dark as he slips deeper into his programming.

He’s inside his codes, large and green all around him. A giant dome of numbers and text, with smaller doors on the walls leading down to different parts of his programming and sub-routes. He pulls up the silver scanner program. It glows softly as he activates it and then that soft glow spreads, going over each and every part of his systems. It takes a few moments, but his newly updated scan results show him the same data he had received last night. Nothing on the ship and on himself seemed to be out of sorts. But, then the scanner program glows again, and he blinks as the program highlights a passageway he has not remembered seeing. He follows the trail down the hallway, eventually entering another large room, dark with corruption.

“What is this?” Uno whispers, “I thought I knew my codes inside and out… I should have noticed when I have a corrupted data file.”

He’ll have to try and restore it.

_‘Restore?’_

_‘Yes.’_

The room instantly lights up, green light travelling from Uno and onto the floor, spreading up the walls. On them, were giant screens displaying videos; Uno’s own recordings, and they’re…

They’re all of Donald.

Now, he _remembers_.

Everett apologizing as reactivates Uno on the ship, Uno deciding to look through his recordings when he feels like he wants to see Donald, Everett jokingly saying it’s just best to compile all of his favorite memories of him rather than going through his general archives for them, Uno taking that concept into heart and filtering through his memories for all that he has on Donald and the Duck Avenger, thus creating…

Creating the PK Tube. To bring him comfort in the times when he needs it.

_'_How could I have forgotten?'

* * *

“Master Ducklair! Master Ducklair!”

Uno rushes back into his orb, startling Everett as he choked on his coffee. He sends out a mechanical arm to quickly steady his creator, but doesn’t pause to let him recover as he shouts, “I know what it affected Master Ducklair! It’s my memories!”

“What?” Everett coughs, “Did you forget who DA was?”

“No! Never!” Uno shakes his head fervently, “But I had forgotten about PK Tube, Master Ducklair. it’s as we suspected!” “But you’ve gotten the knowledge of it back, did you not?” Everett asks, his hands already wiping itself on a nearby cloth rag and shifting his chair closer towards Uno and the main console. “Yes, I did.” Uno confirms.

How could he even forget that he made it? Would the petal affect the rest of his memories too? There are vital pieces of information in Uno’s memories; knowledge of the future and past. They span from the first memories and intel he received from his master, all the way to meeting the Duck Avenger and Donald. It’s unfathomable to imagine that he will lose them, or risk them being corrupted in any sort of way

A soft touch of something unfamiliar, yet familiar at the same time on top of his head.

“Uno! The petal!”

Uno blinks, and sure enough, on top of his virtual display head, rests the petal he had terminated the day before, glowing softly as it did when they both assumed it to be active. He scoots away from it, letting it fall to the bottom of his orb, seemingly harmless. He turns to Everett in bewilderment. He only gestures wildly in response, “Uno, scan it!”

“R-Right! Scanning now!”

_File: D_Petal.hnhk._  
Source: D  
Connection: PK Tube Interface.

He sends the results of the scan to the monitor.

So, it’s indeed connected to PK Tube, but what does the source even mean? D? D for Dahlias? Dazzling? Dimly glowing?

The petal itself is no longer glowing on the screen.

“Uno…” Everett looks to him, suspicion on his face, “Every time the petal glows, it seems to be when you’re deep in thought. Perhaps it glows when you’re distracted?”

“Should I distract myself? To test that theory?”

“It didn’t harm you when it glowed on top of your head.” Everett says, “If nothing else, we will know what triggers it to glow. I fear that if we are to attempt to delete it again, we’ll have a repeat of yesterday’s incident.”

Definitely not something he wants to experience again.

And so Uno decided to distract himself. He tries puzzles and turning away from the room. He goes from subroutine to subroutine, going around the ship and looking for things to do. He tries to invent something random; a new blend of drinks from the weird alien fruit they’ve gotten, and a handful of new weapons and shield for the Coronian army the next time they cross paths. He tries fiddling with his new scan updates, comparing it to his old ones to know what went wrong the last time he used it. Every time he loses himself in the activity, Everett calls him back, reporting to him that the petal has not done anything at all.

“I don’t think this is going too well.” Everett scrunches up his beak, “It’s not glowing as it did. Do you not recall what you were doing before, Uno? When the petal started to glow?”

Uno is hesitant; he doesn’t remember doing anything that might cause such a thing. All he had been doing was-

_Oh._

* * *

“They’re the first flowers I grew back in Gran'ma’s farm.” Donald grins as he shows off the Dahlias his nephews have turned into bookmarks for him.

It is Donald’s birthday, and his nephews are off on a mandatory official Junior Woodchuck’s Expedition. But it’s not just his nephews, most of his relatives and friends are not available today, and thus the celebrations have been moved to the weekends. Although Scrooge did drop by to bring him his gifts from the rest of his family earlier that day, grumbling halfheartedly about the price he can charge for the deliverance of the packages. He had leaned into the hug Donald had pulled him into; hugging him tight before leaving for the night.

Uno doesn’t understand the significance of celebrating’s one’s birth, but he _adores _seeing Donald happy and smiling. He cradles each gift to his chest, opening them all one by one by Uno’s side.

“And because of that, they are your favourite?”

“Not just because they’re the first,” Donald laughs. Uno’s ridiculously thrilled at the sight of it.

“I was so proud that I showed ‘em off to Gran’ma by picking ‘em up by their roots!” He leaps up to his feet and mimes the action excitedly, “Got a nasty scolding for it. But then, every time she wanted to show how proud she was of me, she’d either buy or grow me Dahlias. And then everyone else in the family started giving me them too! It was hard not to like them when they mean so much to me.”

“And what do they mean to you, hero?”

“That they love me, and that I love them in turn.”

* * *

“Oh, Uno! The petal is glowing! Much brighter than it did before! It’s even turned into a flower!” Everett exclaims, “You’ve done it! You’ve found the trigger!”

Uno barely registers his master’s voice; he feels sluggish with the revelation.

The ‘D’ of the petal doesn’t stand for Dahlia. It stands for_ Donald_.

Donald is the source.

“What were you thinking of, Uno?” Everett asks.

Uno is quiet, he’s not sure if he should even say it. He’s mortified enough as it is when his master is the one of all people to remind him of the existence of PK Tube. It’s confusing but he’s oddly embarrassed at such a simple thing; to have a petal glow whenever he thinks of Donald. But, this is his creator. His creator who is trying his best to help solve the mystery of the flower, even if they both should be focusing more on the Corona Army and how to combat them and his daughters. He can’t lie, not when it feels so petty in comparison to the entire situation they’re in.

“It’s nothing Master Ducklair, just some back log systems I have of DA.”

He lies anyway.

“Uno…” Everett frowns, hand outstretched, “I know that you-“

Suddenly, the ship _tilts and rumbles. _An explosion from their far right wing- far too close to their engines to be comfortable, shakes the entire ship, the reverberation of the attack knocking Everett off his feet. He leaps back up and rushes to the navigation scanner. “Uno! We’re being attacked! Don’t tell me it’s-”

A Corona army battle ship passes by the windows and fires lasers at them, and then both Uno and Everett are left scrambling towards the console, dragged yet into another battle.

* * *

It’s not until after they’ve successfully escaped their pursuers and have fixed up their ship that Uno gets the time to think of the flower again.

His master has retired for the night, exhausted after another week without rest. Everett had to spend a significant amount of time scavenging the parts of the Corona battle ships that they can use, and then spending another week tinkering with them to fix both the ship and their weapons, as well as create new ones for the next battle. Uno himself had been busy putting their concealment and defense shield up around the space ship, with it being destroyed in the last battle.

“It’s a small battalion Uno,” Everett had said, “I suspect their first attempt to experiment on the black rays are going to start soon, and they want to make sure that we’re not anywhere near them to interrupt that. We’ll have to return to Corona soon to figure out a way to stop it.”

And then he had left, retiring for the night.

Uno is thankful that his master seems to have forgotten entirely of the petal turned flower object he’d found. He feels oddly protective and secretive of it. Uno doesn't know exactly why his systems are creating flowers because of Donald, but he's not willing to tell his master just yet.

“I’ll tell him when I get to the bottom of this,” Uno promises himself, “Without a moment’s hesitation.”

Just in the past few days alone, to his horror, the flower has grown and _multiplied_. He now has enough to form a bouquet of the sorts- all under the same line of code, all connected to various memories of Donald that he’s thought of. They weigh heavy in his mind.

He pulls it out of his systems to examine it further.

_D_Flower.hnhk_

If the first letter of the name is an abbreviation for Donald, and the flower refers to the object, then the set of letters at the back must mean something too.

It’s not an extension or form of file that Uno recognizes. Perhaps it’s a virus? Viruses are known to have file formats that make no sense and are able to evolve and multiply. But Uno is a top level AI, his master’s firewalls would have stopped any malware in their tracks. The last time Uno had dealt with this, he had shut down as a reaction towards the pain, rather than anything the flower triggered. So the flower itself is not harmful, although it will cause him pain and loss of the memory its attached to when terminated.

Pain is not something coded into his systems, and if it’s not some code or program, then it might be an infection. But Uno is not a biological, things like these would not harm him, unless…

Unless, it’s a force of magic.

The only concept that Uno doesn’t understand and cannot explain, like the flow of the mythical energy that surrounds the Earth and its inhabitants, or how his master can perform tricks that he’s learnt in Dhasam-Bul. It would make sense why the petal is an Earth flower too; the only source of magic he has encountered had been on Earth.

It’s also connected to Donald; evident by how it glows softly whenever he thinks of him. Perhaps that’s why it targeted the PK Tube. It’s the compilation of his memories to Donald and his adventures with him, the remaining connection he has of the duck. He’s literally light years away from him. If this magical flower is relying on their ties to each other, then it’s gone a long way from home to prove it. The flower itself glows at him in response.

Uno scowls.

In conclusion, he’s looking for something that can be abbreviated to ‘hnhk’, something mythical and is related to flowers, something that grows because of the thought of Donald, something related to Earth.

He runs it through the database he has on the planet once he calls home.

It’s the Hanahaki Disease.

* * *

He has encountered Hanahaki before.

It's in the medical database he has, the only one filed under mythical diseases- evidently it had befuddled Master Ducklair just as much as it did to him.

It is common in the World Health database too, and also filed as the only mythical disease biologicals have. Triggered only by the feeling of intense yearning for a beloved. It takes a while for them to settle into one's body, depending on the flower they have grown into. But it takes a couple of months even at its worst, and signs are usually very obvious to everyone. Pain from the flowers growing inside their lungs and their throat and around their hearts. Coughing out and vomiting petals and blood and the occasional thorns and leaves, coupled with their rapidly deteriorating health. The victim will have plenty of time to choose to take the surgery, in theory. It is an government funded operation, made mandatory to be free for all, and safe and painless in its early stages.

Removal of the flowers in exchange for the loss of the memories and feelings of their loved ones.

He's seen it in TV shows; usually accompanied by warnings that Hanahaki diseases are not meant to be trifled with and to not attempt it at home and please contact the nearest doctor if you have them.

The side characters of Anxiety of the 12th season finale has them, and it ends with the character getting together with their love and curing them of the disease. Chessy love songs about flowers blaring in the background to the laughter of the two characters.

He's also seen in during one of DA's missions.

When one man had broken down into tears on top of the roof of a local surgeon. A man named Rocker Bryg, who had screamed into the void of the night about how the doctor he had been planning to kidnap had taken away his loved one.

Rosa Lindell was an orphan and grew up with Rocker in the orphanage. When they had grown up, they had left together and became roommates. She had been too poor to afford the treatment for the cancer she later contracted. The only doctor they both could afford after months of saving, had failed the surgery, and as a result, Rosa had passed away on the operating table. As he cries, the Duck Avenger, ever the compassionate hero, had tried to talk him down from his plan. In the middle of it all, the man had coughed out blood and petals.

Uno had scanned him, and informed the Avenger of the roses that were growing in his lungs. He had gritted his teeth, and swooped towards Rocker- abandoning the peace talk he had been trying to make earlier on. He slammed towards him and together they had both tumbled down the roof and onto the lawn. Rocker was knocked out from the impact. Uno had suggested to bring him to the hospital, as his flowers have overgrown his lungs and the man would have only a few hours left before it grew too big for him to handle. 

DA was quiet for a moment, and then just as quietly, he said,

"No, Uno. He wouldn't want that. Please look up for the grave of Rosa Lindell."

And so Uno did.

When Rocker woke up in pain, he would find himself in front of his roommate's grave, with a fresh bouquet of red roses in front of it, and an envelope filled with cash. Written on it, is the number of a nearby hospital known for specializing in the Hanahaki surgery.

Both Uno and DA watched as the man laughed, cried and chose to wait and slowly succumb to the flowers under the light of dawn.

Donald had called the police to report the body and had asked that he be buried next to grave he was found at.

Uno had asked later on when DA had returned for the night, drinking coffee and bundled under layers of warm blankets. Why he didn't take the money and just chose to live? Was it because he was already a criminal? Was it because he no longer trusted doctors to do what they should? Was is it because even after the surgery he would still be poor? Is that not why they gave him money?

Donald had sighed, "It's love Uno. He knew about the surgery but he was never gonna to take it. The only way for that guy to live was to get rid of the roses cuz' they came outta his yearning for his roommate. I think he chose to live with the pain and memories for as long as he could, than live a life without that love."

"It's a rash decision, to die for love." Uno said.

"Yeah it is," Donald said as he sipped his coffee, "but it was his choice to make. Some folks think that it's better to remember and die, than to live and forget."

And Uno had wondered then, how someone's desire to keep their memories can be stronger than their desire to live.

* * *

“Oh.”

A quiet noise, no louder than a whisper. For such a staggering information that Uno’s received, he’s feeling oddly numb. In the empty control room, there is only the bright glow of the flowers to accompany him in his revelation, with many more brand new ones scattered at the bottom of his orb. He sinks towards them slowly, faintly registering the feeling of the petals; soft and now glowing white.

Soft like feathers.

* * *

“Come on Uno, it’s not a big deal!”

“If you start leaving feathers behind in crime scenes, someone is going to eventually grab one and run it through a DNA testing machine! And then Donald Duck and the Duck Avenger won’t be so different as anyone would think they are!” Uno’s mechanical hands run after the Avenger as he leaps from one side of the room to the other, dodging them with ease even without the shield being active. “Please DA, hold still! It will only take a moment!”

“Molting is a natural part of a duck! You can’t just speed the process up by trying to preen me!”

“It’s not preening it’s brushing! And I’m not trying to speed it up! I’m trying to take care of you! Your new feathers will be very weak so it’s important to keep yourself clean! And my scans can pluck out the remaining older feathers that are barely hanging on by their stem!”

“You just said you were going to pluck out my feathers!”

“Old ones! Ones that are going to naturally fall off!”

“They’ll fall out in due time! You can’t just- WacK!”

Donald narrowly ducks away from one of the hands, and he finally takes out his shield in an attempt to fly off the ground. But Uno has been waiting for this- he takes the shield’s controls and forces Donald to land on a soft chair he pulls for him, setting him down and quickly securing him. Donald squawks indignantly, “Uno! This is entirely unnecessary! I can preen myself just fine!”

“I’ve had to clean up after your feathers on four other separate occasions!” Uno reminds him as he readies his brush, “And the last villain we fought kept finding you because of those feathers! It’s only pure luck that I managed to intercept the device and set it to self-destruct before he figured out that our lair is here! You must do this at least once before you go out for patrol tonight!”

He starts.

Oh, he’s so _soft_.

He runs the hands and brush through his friend’s head and limbs, pressing his fingers in as much as he can on sore spots he knows DA has from previous battles. Donald squirms and shivers for a long moment, before finally relaxing under his ministrations; his small red face reluctantly content. Uno releases the restraints when he’s sure that the duck won’t try to bolt.

“There, it’s not so bad is it?”

“It’s not,” Donald grumbles, “It’s just _embarrassing_ Uno. I’m a grown duck, I can take care of myself just fine.”

“I know preening isn’t really a thing friends do for each other..." Uno hums, enjoying the feel of the soft feathers. He wasn’t even aware they could feel this soft and light, even as the old ones fall away, each feather is no less soft than the other. All working together to protect Donald’s skin when his Kevlar suit fails as its first line of defense. He had expected them to be rough, worn out by time and fire from near heart-stopping explosions and enemy attacks.

He’s happy that he can feel this. Adding touch sensors at the edges of his mechanical fingers is not really a concept that Uno finds to be a priority. It doesn’t bring anyone any significant improvement in theory, but he’s not disappointed by this upgrade he added to himself if this is what he gets to use them for.

“Please understand that I wouldn’t have asked you this if it weren’t imperative to your safety Donald. I apologize for ignoring your general social customs but I’d rather have you embarrassed than injured or hunted.” Uno slowly moves the hands lower down his back, making sure to press into the aching muscles. Donald moans in response- his back has not been treated kindly after being slammed into the wall by last week’s Crocodile villain. Not for the first time, Uno laments the lack of more heavy duty armor on DA’s wardrobe.

“I know you mean well Uno. You’re frustrating and aggravating but you’re good under all that nanny program you have.” Donald sighs, his beak is still holding a frown, but he leans into his touch all the same. Uno feels a tingle of joy at the small action, smiling in delight. Donald, in turn, looks away from his orb, his face turning adorably red again, “Just… keep this between us yeah? It’s embarrassing enough as it is.”

“It’ll be our secret, hero.”

* * *

Inside his orb, the flowers continue to glow and multiply, surrounding Uno in nothing but white.

He’s not a biological. Diseases should be ineffective against him. Much less one _this_ far out away from Earth. Flowers cannot bloom inside his virtual world without his command- it’s illogical, madness in itself, and it’s something that Uno cannot compute.

But then again, so is DA.

It makes sense that his affections for him would not make sense. Uno has found that Donald is more often than not, an exception to a lot of rules. He tries _so_ _hard_ even when the odds are against him- stubborn and reckless to a fault. A heart that’s still so unbearably loving despite the attacks he faces from both his enemies and those that he chooses to protect. Quick to anger but also quick to forgive and trust. The impact of his actions are colossal, despite his small size. These are all traits that Uno finds to be contradicting but admirable all the same.

* * *

They’re watching the latest plot of Anxieties together when he feels the want.

Lately Cyberpunk has been all the rage, and the media has been showcasing such tropes more and more. It shows up in popular novels of the month, the latest screenplays and movies, and the occasional appearance in filler episodes in the more longer running TV series. Anxiety is no different, the main trio tasked with a murder mystery of a politician husband in an arranged marriage- the blame falling on the missing wife who had fled with her android paramour. It was an odd mix of tropes, and the android is so obviously just a man painted silver with wires drawn on his hands.

Donald however seemed to be enjoying it, laughing at the obvious plot holes and generic bad make up.

“This is ridiculous,” Uno huffed for the fifth time that night, “They could have at least hired a better make-up artist, I can see the paint falling off his skin from the water in the pool scene!”

“Aw Uno, lighten up! If anyone watched ‘Anxieties’ because of their quality, no one would be watching it at all. It’s just fun popcorn stuff.” Donald threw some of said popcorn in the air, and attempted to catch it with his beak. He of course, fails and several of them manage to hit him in the eyes, but he still smiles when the antics make Uno snort in amusement.

“People just can’t imagine how androids will be in the future, so for now they have to settle for cheap make up and special effects. At least, not until someone builds them in the future.”

“Someone indeed,” Uno hums playfully, “The world won’t know what will hit them when they do.”

“Maybe you’ll get to see them in the future Uno,” Donald pats his orb. Uno is usually content to let his visual interface run on the main larger orb stationed in the middle of the room, but lately he feels the need to be closer. These days, more often than not, he uses the smaller more mobile orbs, opting to hover near Donald as they interact. The duck himself doesn’t seem to mind, had reached out and held Uno at the start of the evening, and placed him on his lap for no reason other than for more contact. Uno is extremely grateful for it, his orb glowing pink in delight before settling back to green.

“Heck, you might even just get a body of your own,” Donald says excitedly, “You did say your hardware is built to last much more than 300 years! I’m sure someone in the future won’t mind getting you one.”

Uno laughs. The humour of this entire conversation seems to fly by over Donald’s head. He doesn’t know how he becomes Odin in the future, doesn’t know when he’ll eventually start producing androids left and right, but Uno does know this. For someone who regularly solves and fights crimes, DA can be a bit dense. That’s all right though, that’s why he has Uno.

“Well, we’ll just have to see won’t we?”

“_You’ll _have to wait and see,” Donald corrects, “Ducks aren’t meant to last over 300 years, no matter what unca’ Scrooge thinks. Aww phooey, don’t make that face Uno, I’m sorry. It’s kinda sad huh?”

Uno doesn’t like to think about that. He knows that Donald won’t live forever, that despite Scrooge McDuck’s unnaturally long life span, the same might not go for him. With all the crime fighting that DA does, all the times he’s gotten hurt, or even just being as Donald the civillian; Uno is reminded constantly of the fragility of his friend. He turns and sinks himself closer into the part of the orb that’s squished against Donald’s belly, as if he can just feel the warmth he is emitting and just bury himself there, and not face the possibility of facing a world without Donald by his side.

“You’ll find friends Uno, you’ll get to meet a lot more people in the future, you’ll see! The future is bright and all, and you won’t be the only AI around these parts of the neighborhood. Hell, you might even build an army of friends!” Donald keeps patting his orb, trying to reassure him and coax him to come out, “Until then, you’re stuck with me for a lil’ while.”

‘I wouldn’t mind being stuck with you until the end of my days,’ Uno thinks.

“How tragic,” is what Uno says instead, “Whatever shall I do, hero?”

“We continue watching Anxieties! Look Uno, the commercial break is finally over!” Donald grins at him, bright and beautiful, and Uno aches and _wants_. Does he want to preserve that smile, to be closer? Or does he simply want Donald to stay? He’s not sure what he wants specifically, but he feels it anyway. The acute feeling of yearning erupts from inside of him, making the orb he’s in feel all too tight, but there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. He turns back towards the screen.

He can worry about it later, he’s not so much as a fool to waste his time worrying about wasting the limited time they have.

“Of course Donald, but really this episode doesn’t have to be this bad. If they’re planning to make the juxtaposition of a robot and a biological their main problem for this episode they could at least lay back on the other thirteen running tropes they have.”

“Gotta agree with you there bud, they really didn’t hafta make the wife be another politician _and_ an Olympian god at the same time.”

* * *

The flowers have filled Uno’s entire orb now, it feels heavy, but Uno can’t bring himself to care. The revelation that Uno loves him is not something that he finds surprising. No one who has spent a significant amount of time with Donald can say that they don't grow to do so in due time. The feeling of wanting him is neither surprising nor new.

But the revelation that Uno wants him enough to trigger the flowers to bloom inside him despite not being a biological? It is ridiculous.

But oh, does he _want_-

He wants to talk to him about his worries of his master and the current situation of Corona. He wants to just sit next to him as they discuss the villains that DA has to fight every week. He wants to make sure the hero remains the way Uno last remembers him to be- alive and living; marching onwards to a better future with hope under his wings. He wants him to smile, laugh and rant about things that matter to him the most. He wants to hold him, sink himself under all the feathers and curl up to that warmth despite not having a body to do so.

He wants to see Donald.

* * *

They’re both hiding out on Corona’s artificial moon after yet another failed attempt to stop Juniper and Korrina, deeming it too unsafe to be roaming about the solar system with the Imperial Army actively looking for them. The main fully armored mothership; Ultima is finally in space, and the experiment on the Black Ray is slowly starting to take off. It will take a full team of highly capable individuals to sneak in and stop the experiment from the inside. It is unfortunate that manpower is what Everett and Uno are lacking. The only thing left they can do is to play the waiting game of observing them from afar and salvage the remains when it inevitably starts to go wrong.

Which is why it’s not a surprise to Uno when his master brings up the flower again.

The fact that Uno’s been slipping in terms of functionality probably didn’t help his case.

“It’s nothing Master Ducklair, just a slight margin of error in my systems.”

“It’s not nothing if it causes you to malfunction Uno!” Everett says, frustration evident in his voice as he paces in front of the orb, “Just the other day the concealment shield deactivated itself for fifteen minutes! And you didn’t notice at all! We were lucky the moon had been in a position just outside of Ultima’s range!”

“I was just exhausted! It won’t happen again- I assure you Master Ducklair. My systems are all functional and online.”

“Uno...” Everett wrings his hands, “We’re both out here in the middle of the solar system alone, hunkered down on a floating _rock_ near the enemy base. There is no reason for you to hide the problem from me, especially if it concerns our safety.”

Uno is quiet.

“Please Uno, let me help. Tell me what’s messing up your systems and I’m sure we can fix it.”

“…”

“Is it Duo? When I reactivated you in this ship I was sure that what I had moved was just purely your sole programming. Is he causing the flowers? I saw the codes for the shield Uno, I had to manually recode and reprogram them to boot them back up after all. The ‘D_Flower’ code was all over the controls’ sub-routes.” Everett paces in front of him anxiously, “Is that what’s causing you to form all these flowers?” Uno is too busy being mortified at the thought of his flowers, _blooming for Duo_ of all creatures. It probably shows in his face because his master stops and is walking rapidly towards him. Uno rushed to correct him, “No! It’s definitely not Duo, Master Ducklair!”

“No? But that means you do know what’s behind it!” Everett concludes, he places his hands on Uno’s orb, “Tell me Uno. Please.”

“I-,” Uno starts, looks away, and starts again, “I’ve been meaning to tell you it’s just…”

Everett waits patiently, letting the silence sit between them.

“It’s just that I was embarrassed! I was scared too. I’m not sure why.”

“Feelings are complicated, Uno,” Everett lets him go, “No one will judge you for it, especially when there’s only me.” He smiles at him, awkward but open.

“The flowers I suspected are caused by Earth magic, Master Ducklair.”

He tells him. From the night Uno discovered what triggers the flowers to glow, and how from there, he had deducted and analyzed that it was magic, and because of the source of the trigger, he had deduced the source of the magic. And from there, it was a simple search that concluded why the flowers were there. Throughout the entire time, his master was silent, nodding and urging him patiently to continue.

When he ends his tale, he assumed that he would have to convince Everett that it was indeed Hanahaki, but his master just looks… pleased?

“This is fascinating Uno! You contracting it must mean that you’ve grown enough to fool a disease to think that you are a biological. You’ve grown not only a consciousness and become a being of your own, but one with so much heart!” Everett says, his features a mixture of pride and pain. “If only I could give my daughters the chance to grow same feeling of empathy and love.” His master’s face is filled with years of past regret, but he still tries to smile at Uno. He feels the need to reassure him, but Uno isn’t sure what to say. Korinna and Juniper are sensitive topics, and Uno doesn’t know enough to inquire or talk about it much.

He tries anyway.

“I’m sure in due time, they’ll both get a chance to learn it themselves Master.”

Everett nods, “Perhaps when they get a chance to see the world more for its people and culture instead of trophies and conquest, until then we can only hope to mitigate the destruction. Now about the flowers…”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to keep them all in check and in one spot, but they bloom in the most unexpected locations. It’s been slowing my response time significantly and causing me to lag in both receiving and transmitting out codes and commands for myself.” Uno rambles, “But I can’t delete any of them! If I lose even a single memory I-“

“Uno, please,” Everett cuts, “You don’t have to apologize. I feel like I should. Forgive me, I built you, and made you impenetrable to near all forces except for magic. If I had, perhaps you would be immune to the disease. Are you sure you don’t want to delete them? Any memories you’ve lost surely can’t be any more important than your continued functionality and existence. You’re not a biological Uno, any stray code can affect you greatly and I fear the ramification of the flowers’ continued existence.”

“I didn’t expect them to hinder my programs so much, but I don’t want to, Master Ducklair.” Uno declares, quiet but determined, “I don’t have a solution for it just yet, but I know that deleting them and exchanging my memories for my functionality isn’t one of them.”

“Oh Uno, I think you know the solution already.” Everett says sadly, “The Hanahaki disease has no cure.”

Uno does know, painfully well. What he has been doing is just finding the flowers and moving them all into a single file when they come- it's all just him dealing with the symptoms of the disease. If this is Hanahaki on a biological, then they would be urged to take a surgery to remove the source; the roots of the disease. And then, they’d lose both the flowers and the feeling of affection for their loved one. In some dire cases, memories are reported to have been lost too; when the significance of such moments mean far too much that the feeling and the memory itself is one and the same.

Whichever it is, Uno refuses to lose it.

* * *

It’s not until a few days later that they talk about the flowers again.

"If the main reason of the illness is the emotions brought by the thought of the person... could we not simply try to remove the feelings?” Everett turns to him in the middle of him eating. Uno’s always amazed how he can eat the same food, day by day when Donald himself grumbles if he has to eat the same food in a day. He supposes that life on Dhasam-Bul offered roughly the same way of living. “We can try to leave the memories intact,” Everett continues, “You’re an AI Uno. We can back them up and load them back in you when we're done clearing out those feelings you have for him."

Uno doesn't respond; he knows that his master is just trying to help but, the thought of not feeling such joy and affection for Donald is...

Terrifying.

* * *

Before Uno is fully aware of just how precious his friendship with Donald is, he had tried to discard it. By taking away his memories of being Duck Avenger, and with it, knowledge of Uno and the 151st floor.

When Donald had ventured into the secret floor on accident, multiple alarm bells had immediately popped up in Uno's systems. Uno had ignored them all in favour of his curiosity on who had ventured into his domain. And when his offer of friendship was accepted, he was elated! From then on, Donald had shown him so many new things that he had never thought to be interesting; new wonderful ways to use his technology for the good of the world around him.

But still the alarms persist, and by each day they get more and more agitating, and Uno fears what his master would say if he knew about Donald. Would he be angry? Would he be disappointed that Uno did not carry out his prime directive? 

Thus, before Master Ducklair had shown up and Duo was revealed, he had contemplated.

If Evronian technology of cool-flaming victims can be reversed, and at the end of it, if they only take away from the victim the memories and essence they contain, then technically couldn't Uno reprogram that technology into some sort of memory erasing device?

Uno had in his possession, the gun the Evronians had used for the cool-flame. He had studied it, dismantled it, and reassembled it over and over. If the intensity of the gun is what causes insanity for its victims, then Uno could simply reprogram that intensity and tone it down for his own personal use. And so he did. Just enough that it can selectively burn and take away only a part of the victim's self and essence.

At the end of a long night, when the Avenger is tired from the night's villains and is resting in the chair by the main console, Uno had taken the device.

And aimed it at Donald.

If Donald were to forget him, then he would stop coming to the secret floor. He would return to society as the Duck Avenger he was before he barged into the Ducklair's laboratory. And Uno would be safe. He could reprogram the gargoyle mouth outside to never open again, and the tower's utmost secrets would be left alone.

Uno would be left alone.

Alone... again.

Donald was just so small. A biological that would eventually leave him as his master did. Surely, this way he is just speeding up the inevitable? 

But the mechanical hands that hold the gun refuse to budge.

The trigger is just right there. Donald would never know what happened. When he wakes, all will be forgotten under the blue flames.

But his hands were trembling.

The alarms are still ringing inside his head, prompting him over and over to guard the secrets of the tower. And he must obey.

_But his hands were trembling._

Donald would be okay without him. Uno would be okay without him too.

Would he?

...

He does not pull.

By early morning light, when Donald wakes up bright and oblivious to the danger he was just in, Uno greets him with a tired smile and presents him breakfast. Inside him, the prompts that alerted him that he's going against his main directive have been destroyed by his own hands. And far down below them, in the incinerator room, burns the gun that he had thrown away in horror.

* * *

Since then, many more of his code he has discarded and rewritten. With each new revelation he gets from spending time with Donald, the more he learns and changes, becoming the Uno he is today.

Old Uno would have let a whole continent explode to let the earth prosper, would have let the time police 'fix history', would have agreed that androids are merely tools for the biologicals and that he is merely a program. But Donald has shown him that he isn't. He's gone far beyond that, developed his own values and feelings, so much so that even Master Ducklair had been impressed by his transformation. 

Old Uno would have chosen to pull the trigger, erasing his best friend.

Donald had been such an integral part of his growth, what would happen if that were to change? If those feelings go away, who will Uno become? To burn all that he is to Donald, and in turn all that Donald is to him.

No. Never. 

"I appreciate the sentiment Master Ducklair. But. I must insist on a hard no."

"Will you not even try? Not even for me Uno?" Everett puts a hand on his orb, "I can't have you malfunctioning like this, and clearly the flowers bring you only more harm than good."

"But I like feeling happy about Donald," Uno shakes his head, "We have discussed this Master Ducklair. Unfortunately, my answer is still a no. I'm not risking any of the memories and data I have for him."

Everett sighs, and looks at him with an exasperated gaze, "It seems that I did not miss your rebellious phase after all."

"You did not miss a thing Master." Uno smiles at him weakly in turn.

His master is trying his best to cope, too many he has lost. Uno knows it's selfish. But, he can't help it. He wants Donald. He wants to remember him and continue to cherist him as he is. If he is doomed to never meet Donald again, if he eventually will return to Earth to a Donald-less world after his trip with his master, and can only see Donald as Odin, then these memories and feelings are all that he has to remember him by.

What is he doing now? Is he staring up at the skies wondering where Uno had gone after leaving him that message that long ago? Is he even still around? How many years has it been since they've left Earth? Uno was reactivated in the space shuttle he resides after Master Ducklair had left Corona after his children and his wife had driven him away, so he isn't aware how long it's been. He scowls a lot in those early days, and Uno had decided it's best if he doesn't ask anything about Earth from his master.

"Then how about we give a place for the flowers to manifest? If they keep popping up in random place in your programming, then surely we can try to create a program to reroute them automatically as they appear so they won't be as intrusive? Like a garden of the sorts?"

Now there's an idea.

"While I'll admit that's a good idea Master Ducklair, this ship will not be able to have enough storage if we have to section a part of it just to keep my flowers from merging with my normal systems. It'll have to be built independent of me too, so that the flowers won't grow on the rerouting program and slow that down too."

"Well, we'll just have to find a new ship won't we?"

There's a mischievous twinkle in his master's eye that he hasn't seen since he found out about the flowers, and Uno feels a little bit of hope at it.

"Search us a ship to liberate Uno! With all these space pirates roaming about this side of the galaxy, we're practically in a golden scrap yard of materials!"

"Right away Master Ducklair!"

* * *

Eons later, they find out that time in Corona does not march to the same speed of the one on Earth and that the Duck Avenger is still alive and well, and in need of assistance. It’s in that moment Uno wishes he could stop the beat of joy that thrums in him, because the flowers multiplied rapidly just at the news of it all; even when it really wasn’t the time to be happy about DA being alive. Especially not when DA himself might not live past the battle against Moldrock and his army.

When they both return to Earth, he sees Donald bruised and tired but still wonderfully alive.

And Uno breathes.

**Author's Note:**

> The song title is inspired by the song 'Waste' by Oh Wonder.
> 
> PKTube is inspired by a comic of the same name featuring short stories of the cast of PK's adventures.
> 
> Part of Uno trying to erase Donald is inspired from the first chapter of PK Tube, where Uno sends Donald out to hunt some Evronians to 'examine their technology'. He then jams the shield when PK is fighting against the aliens, with the intention to let him be cool-flamed and erase the only other person to know of the secrets of the Ducklair Tower.
> 
> There's another part to this that I'm not sure I'll continue to write out. I wanted so badly to post this from start to finish, but when you're at 10,000 words and short on time, you gotta stop somewhere. Thank you very much for reading! I hope you've enjoyed it!


End file.
